


Caving In

by sweettasteofbitter



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Bathing/Washing, F/F, minor animal death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-30
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-06-29 06:17:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15723675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweettasteofbitter/pseuds/sweettasteofbitter
Summary: Adaar takes Cassandra on a nocturnal adventure. Cassandra doesn't much like it, until Adaar lets her in on a well-kept secret.





	Caving In

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fake_years](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fake_years/gifts).



> Thanks to Mytha for the beta!

“We’re almost there.”

Adaar gestured for Cassandra to make haste. Cassandra wasn’t sure how long they had been walking, but it felt like hours, treading on uneven ground through the coniferous forest.

Along the way, Adaar had been guided by red ribbons hanging from low tree branches, signaling she had been here before. Upon finding another one of the ribbons waving in the breeze, Adaar made a comment about collecting them on their way back so they would not get lost.

"This part of the route is particularly tricky, with all the hills and such," Adaar said. "I'm glad past me was smart enough to put these here."

Cassandra appreciated this approach. It was one of the many things she liked about Adaar; the Tal-Vashoth was clever and resourceful, and although she had a the unfortunate habit to use her sense of humor at inappropriate times, buried deep inside her chest was a heart of gold, a rare treasure only to be found by those worthy.

It was starting to get dark, and fireflies whizzed around them. Cassandra swatted at a mosquito that dared to fly too close to her ear.

She hadn’t necessarily thought of it as strange that Adaar asked her to join her a mere few hours before sunset. Adaar was convinced that the night was a safer time to travel, so she often made her party trod along in the light of Thedas’ moons.

( _“If there’s anything I’ve learned from my time with the Valo-Kas, it’s that casual travelers refuse to travel during the night, afraid to get jumped upon. Little do they know they’re actually more likely to walk into an ambush during daylight. At night? Bandits sleep, because they know travelers will not brave the road. Plus, it’s easier not to trip and land in your own trap if you can see where you walk.”_

_“Yeah, can confirm. What about demons though?” Iron Bull had asked._

_“Pffft,” Adaar had laughed, the silver bauble in her tongue on display. “Demons.”_ )

They hauled themselves up a particularly steep hill, their feet knocking over pebbles that started rolling down the slope. Cassandra’s calves were protesting, and a steady trickle of sweat was making its way down between her shoulder blades. She wasn’t carrying anything besides her sword and the unlit torch Adaar had suggested she bring, but Adaar had brought a well-filled rucksack. Despite her load, the Inquisitor didn’t seem particularly tired. In fact, she seemed unusually energetic, breathing in the smell of the forest around her and touching the undergrowth with her fingertips. Admittedly, she was using her mage staff as leverage for pushing herself up the slopes more easily, but surely that didn’t make her move with that much more ease?

Cassandra groaned, and grumpily admitted that she was asking too much of her body at this hour.

Once they reached a flat plane, Cassandra shook her legs and looked around. They had walked onto some kind of clearing, with a path and trees on one side, and tall walls of grey rock on the other. Cassandra was glad Adaar didn’t expect her to climb all the way to the top of the hill, which stretched out deceptively far beyond the perimeter of the clearing.

“I hope you still have some energy left,” Adaar teased. “This is what I wanted to show you.”

Adaar waved her staff at the rocks, and to Cassandra’s surprise she could distinguish the entrance of a cave in the rocky outcrop. She would barely have noticed it otherwise, but in the light of Adaar’s staff it became a dark, gaping mouth in an otherwise solid grey surface.

Adaar turned around, and to Cassandra’s relief she too was wiping a trace of sweat from her forehead.

“If you wait here, I need to check something.”

“What, inside the cave?”

 _“What, inside the cave?”_ Adaar mimicked Cassandra’s voice, and Cassandra shoved her against her shoulder. “Yes, inside the cave. I’ll be right back.”

Adaar braved the entrance. The cave was large enough for her to be able to stand up and walk through. Slowly, the light of her staff became fainter and fainter, until she rounded a corner and it disappeared completely.

Cassandra lit her torch and held it in the air, looking at the orange burnt sky where the sun had set behind the horizon. She kept her other hand on the hilt of her sword and listened attentively for wildlife or other dangers that could disturb them. However, the only animals she encountered were a couple of moths that had found a beacon in the fire at the tip of her torch. One of the insects flew against Cassandra’s shoulder, its wings beating desperately in a futile attempt to find the sun in licking flames.

It was getting dark at a faster rate now. When Adaar reappeared roughly ten minutes later, night had fallen around them.

“Everything is fine, we can go in. I’ll put up wards once we are inside, just in case.”

Cassandra stepped cautiously into the cave, hearing the echoes of drops of water deeper inside the darkness.

Adaar murmured something and forcefully planted her staff in the dirt. A brightly glowing blue glyph appeared on the ground, creating an eerie contrast with the cave entrance.

“If someone – or something – sets this off, we’ll be warned. Now, let me show you why I brought you here.”

Adaar touched the small of Cassandra’s back in passing, and for the first time Cassandra truly realized Adaar had taken her here to be alone with her. She swallowed as the reality of it sank in.

They weren’t officially courting, but Adaar had been making unambiguously flirty remarks often lately, and her approach to Cassandra had become more physical. Adaar had been making a habit out of putting a hand against Cassandra’s shoulder when they were talking, or brushing her fingers against Cassandra’s elbow in a way that made the hair on Cassandra’s arm stand on end. When Adaar had asked Cassandra if she was uncomfortable with these gestures, Cassandra had shaken her head, confirming that she didn’t mind. Not in the slightest. She trusted Adaar not to cross into the territory of inappropriate behavior in public. In private, however, she was getting more and more certain about what she wanted from Adaar, though she had not yet managed to act upon her newfound desires.

“I’ll go first,” Adaar said, and Cassandra followed, holding up her own light source to be able to see where to put her feet.

At the end of the first cave, Adaar turned to the left. Cassandra expected a second cave, or a tunnel made out of rock, but the hallway they entered didn’t seem natural. The pillars that held up the ceiling were too geometrically perfect, and in carved out alcoves stood figures that had been created by hands, not nature.

Adaar held up her staff, illuminating stone statues that had been subjected to the ages and the constant trickling of water across their surface. Once, a long time ago, they had resembled people, or animals, but little of the creator’s intentions remained visible. They were now little more than vague shapes with unidentifiable protruding parts.

“I’m fairly certain the foundations  of this area are dwarven, but someone repurposed the whole thing, and what remains is possibly an abandoned place of Avvar worship, or of the uhm – what are some of those people living in southern Thedas called again?”

“The Chasind?” Cassandra offered.

“Yes, the Chasind, thank you. I’ve read about them but I’m not entirely familiar with their aesthetic or the manner in which they worship, so I couldn’t tell you where these statues originated.”

“Shall we move on?” Cassandra said, not really wishing to engage in Adaar’s musings upon idols of the superstitious.

“Of course. I didn’t bring you here to show you this.”

Adaar walked deeper into the hallway, at the end of which was a larger room filled with the remnants of more statues. Cassandra’s torch also revealed crudely designed braziers mounted to the wall. One of them had fallen to the ground, disassembled by age and rust.

“How did you find this place?” Cassandra asked, looking around and starting to wonder if there was a point to all of this. She shifted her weight from one leg onto another, waiting for Adaar to move on.

“I came across it with the Valo-Kas once. They always trusted me to scout ahead and draw maps. Or, well, the map drawing was mostly for myself, but it benefitted us anyway,” Adaar admitted. “I was looking for a place to put up camp, and thought a cave like this would do. Little did I know what secrets it harbored. It was a pleasant surprise.”

“I’m not sure if ‘pleasant’ is how I would put it,” Cassandra said when a cold drop of water hit her neck.

“Ah, but then, of course, you haven’t seen the main act yet.”

“Would you stop talking in mysteries and just _show_ me instead?” Cassandra was starting to get impatient.

“Of course, of course,” Adaar hurried to say, but when she looked over her shoulder, she winked. Cassandra rolled her eyes, but she was happy that Adaar turned her back to her, or she would’ve had to explain the smile that followed.

Adaar made her way over to a hole in the wall, half-hidden behind a pillar. She had to hunch over a little, for the entry was much lower than those of previous passages. Cassandra walked behind her, keeping her eyes firmly trained on the ground to prevent herself from tripping over wet rock. From the downward incline she could interpret that they had to be descending deeper into the hill.

At first, Cassandra thought it was the closeness of the walls or the fatigue that plagued her body – or a combination thereof – that made her feel as though she was burning up. But the warmth wasn’t coming from inside of her; rather, it permeated the air, which became more humid with each step.

Adaar took off her rucksack and squeezed herself through a narrow passage. Moments later, Cassandra did the same. When she sought leverage on the wall in front of her, it was warm and moist to the touch.

In the room they entered, stalagmites and stalactites had met each other halfway, creating large pillars of damp rock. Cassandra realized the space looked much larger than it was, partially thanks to the ceiling being reflected in a large expanse of water. She could hear a stream somewhere, but she could not readily identify the source. Warmth radiated from the water’s surface.

Of all things they could have found down here, Cassandra had not expected a hot spring.

Near the narrow entry were a number of naturally formed plateaus, atop of which were an impressive number of candles, all of them lit, the tiny flames dancing in tune with the slight draft in the cave.

Adaar put her rucksack and staff on a dry patch of the ground, and stretched her arms above her neck, loosening her muscles. She looked absolutely elated.

“I thought we’d go for a swim.”

“You…did this?” Cassandra pointed at the candles. Her entire body felt warm, and it had nothing to do with the temperature of the room.

“Yes, I did. I thought you mentioned enjoying romance and I thought…this is how it happens in your books, right?” Adaar rubbed the back of her neck. “I realize I’m putting you on the spot right now. Maybe you don’t want to swim at all. Shit. I didn’t think this through.”

“It it safe to swim here?” Cassandra asked.

Adaar nodded.

“As far as I’m aware, there aren’t any hazards. I’ve bathed here before, and I didn’t feel strange or get sick.”

“Then I think you thought this through perfectly,” Cassandra said. She pushed her torch into Adaar’s hand, and began taking off her gloves and belt. The relief that flooded Adaar’s features was downright endearing.

With her hand, Adaar swiftly guided the flame of Cassandra’s torch to a wall-mounted brazier. The flames licked at her skin, but didn’t faze her at all. Cassandra wasn’t used to mages using their magic as frivolously as Adaar, and although she didn’t necessarily approve, at least Adaar seemed to understand her powers and how to keep them under control.

Cassandra took off her breastplate and boots, and realized her armor was probably the main reason why she’d had so much trouble getting up those hills earlier on. She hadn’t considered wearing anything else when Adaar had dragged her away from the southernmost camp in the Hinterlands. She simply felt safer when she was impervious to various forms of attack.

Adaar began taking off her scarf and unbuttoning her shirt. Cassandra watched her from the corner of her eye, but when Adaar undid the second button something caught Cassandra’s attention, something she had only ever seen hints of, but which was now revealing itself fully to her; a drawing of a dark rose at the peak of bloom graced the base of Adaar’s throat. Cassandra straightened her back and ignored the very strong impulse the touch the rose, to feel if there was any texture to it. She wanted to feel Adaar’s pulse flutter in her throat, feel the proof of her life underneath her hands.

With every inch of skin Adaar revealed, it became clearer to Cassandra not just what she wanted, but _how_ she wanted it.

There had been a time when Cassandra was convinced that she did not love women, and then, for a while, there had been a time when Cassandra was convinced that she _could_ not love women. But the evidence produced when looking at Adaar, feelings ranging from fondness to downright lust, leaned hard to the contrary, and Cassandra was ready to embrace it. All of it.

She quickly took off her own shirt and pants. Unfortunately, one of her pant legs ended up in a wet spot, resulting in Cassandra awkwardly holding on to her clothes while she took off her underthings with one hand. Luckily for Cassandra, Adaar was too busy taking off her own clothes to comment on it, and thus she was spared the humiliation. She looked around for a place to store her clothes, and eventually put them down near Adaar’s things, in the spot that was the only relatively dry one in the entire room.

“Careful, it’s warmer than you might expect,” Adaar said, fumbling with the fastenings of her breast band. “If you go under, you might want to keep your eyes closed.”

Cassandra cautiously dipped her toes in. Adaar’s warning had helped; it did indeed feel much warmer than she had expected, but the temperature wasn’t much higher than what she was used to. She carefully stepped down three steps designed by dwarven masons ages ago, and walked until the water reached her shoulders. She felt around with her toes and knew the spring would at some point be too deep for her to stand in. She closed her eyes, pinched her nose with her fingers, and submerged herself. The water enveloped her like a blanket, and, like a blanket, it was warm and soothing. The feeling wasn’t dissimilar to her baths in Skyhold, except she was free to roam around, letting the warm goodness flow past her muscles rather than being restricted by the confines of a bathtub. All that was missing was fragrant soap, and perhaps a good book to lose herself in.

“This isn’t so bad,” Cassandra said when she resurfaced. She made a few strokes back and forth, lazily, not quite floating but close. She slicked back her wet hair with one hand and looked up at Adaar.

“I thought you would like it here,” Adaar said, satisfied with Cassandra’s opinion of the place. The Inquisitor was standing with one foot on the stairs, and Cassandra had to make a conscious effort to keep her eyes trained on her face. There were, however, too many aspects of Adaar’s body that drew her attention, and Cassandra’s gaze started wandering.

Adaar was, in every sense, a broad woman, with her impressively built shoulders and her wide set hips. The width of her horns only contributed to the image, and Cassandra wasn’t surprised Adaar had managed to fluster many a tavern girl during their travels. Now, though, it was Cassandra’s turn to be subjected to Adaar’s more…physical charms.

The rose wasn’t the only image tattooed onto her skin: just above Adaar’s hip bones were drawings of solid arrows pointing outward. They emphasized the way her hip bones jutted out when she was standing still, as well as the well-defined planes of her stomach. Something else Cassandra noticed was that, even though Adaar didn’t have any hair on her head, she did have soft brown curls between her legs.

Maker. Oh Maker.

She averted her unruly eyes, and heard Adaar’s quiet laugh in response.

Adaar walked into the spring until her hips were covered by the water, and dove graciously underneath the surface. When she emerged again, she was less than a foot away from Cassandra, water dripping from her eyelashes and horns.

“Cassandra,” Adaar said, close enough now so Cassandra was reminded of the silver in her tongue, the subtle dusting of freckles on her nose. “You know you can just come here and get what you want, right? I didn’t borrow thirty-six candles from Josephine’s private collection just to have you stare at me.”

Once upon a time, Cassandra might have been offended by the suggestion that she was caught _staring_ , but now Adaar’s invitation was something Cassandra was all too willing to accept.

She drifted closer, inch by inch, until she was close enough to touch her fingertips to the rose on Adaar’s throat. When she saw that the contact made Adaar bite her lip, she leaned forward and replaced her fingers with her mouth, eager lips to the tendons hidden underneath the flower. Cassandra closed her eyes and savored the feeling of Adaar’s pulse against her, beating faintly down near the dip between her clavicles, and stronger, fluttering, close to her jaw. Now _that_ made Adaar suck in her breath and clutch Cassandra’s shoulders with her large hands.

“Damn it, Kadan, why don’t you start with kissing my mouth like everyone else?”

Cassandra leaned back.

“Kadan?” She had not heard that word before.

Adaar became quite flustered at this, avoiding Cassandra’s gaze.

“It’s…a term of endearment. It means ‘place where the heart lies’.”

“Oh.”  Cassandra curled her arms around Adaar’s shoulders, sliding their breasts together. “I like it,” she decided, before angling her face and kissing Adaar wholly on the mouth.

It took them a moment to comfortably fit themselves against each other, lips bumping while they sought for the right angle, but when they realized they didn’t want to be soft, or slow, Adaar opened her mouth against Cassandra’s and deepened the kiss. Cassandra felt the cold metal of Adaar’s piercing against her tongue, an odd sensation in combination with the warmth of Adaar’s breath, a feeling she had never experienced before. But then, Adaar was awakening all sorts of thrills from within her that hadn’t occurred in a long time. How long had it been since she felt that spark down her spine, that heat between her legs at someone else’s touch? But no, no, better not to think about that – it would spoil a perfectly fine night.

Adaar’s hands started roaming, greedy fingers kneading the flesh of Cassandra’s hips. Eased by the water, Cassandra lifted herself up, and, kept there with the steady support of Adaar’s hands, wrapped her legs around Adaar’s waist. Adaar stopped kissing her and rested her forehead against Cassandra’s.

“Cassandra,” Adaar said, her voice deeper than usual, and she had to swallow before she could continue. “You are so beautiful.” She squeezed her eyes shut and smiled broadly. “Fuck, you have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to say that to you.”

“I wouldn’t really think of myself as-,” Cassandra caught herself in time, not wanting to negate Adaar’s feelings, even though she would have picked different adjectives to describe herself.

“Hey, unless you’re uncomfortable with being called beautiful, which I would understand,” Adaar nuzzled Cassandra’s cheek, planted a soft kiss there – quite the contrast with the way she had kissed Cassandra mere moments before. “In that case, I’ll think of other words to describe you. What about gorgeous?”

Cassandra sighed.

“Handsome?”

Cassandra considered that one, but apparently too long for Adaar to consider it suitable.

“A…dorable?” Adaar really was just teasing her now, her eyes twinkling with mischievous delight.

“Ugh. Stop it,” Cassandra said, splashing Adaar a little because of her insolence, but Adaar was shaking with quiet laughter, and Cassandra found herself laughing along – that was, until Adaar brought her mouth to Cassandra’s neck, and Cassandra made quite a different noise. Her hips twitched and she writhed against Adaar, who moved the two of them to the more shallow part of the spring, alternating between pressing her lips to Cassandra’s neck, her chin, and her mouth.

Cassandra would have loved for Adaar to continue, but they were both warned by a vague noise in the distance, followed by what was unmistakably a yelp.

“What was that? Did you hear that?” Adaar said. She was alert immediately, not paying much attention to Cassandra anymore. Her hands pushed against Cassandra’s shoulders. Cassandra regretted having to untangle herself from Adaar, but if there were intruders they had to be cautious.

Adaar looked at the entrance and left the water, leaving wet footsteps on the ground. Without toweling herself off, she squeezed herself into her pants, not bothering with underwear. She threw on her shirt, hastily buttoning up a few buttons in the wrong holes. Cassandra followed, but she was barely even out of the water by the time Adaar was taking her staff and sliding through the narrow opening of the cave. Her boots and rucksack were still in the dry spot she had put them.

Cassandra hurried into her clothes, and, taking her sword in her hand, followed Adaar. She squeezed herself through the gap in the wall. Unfortunately, Adaar had left her in the dark and Cassandra had to feel her way back to the larger room they had found, where Adaar had hastily lit the brazier on the wall. Cassandra ignored that what was left of the statues staring at her. She raised her sword when she saw a faint glow getting closer, but quickly realized it was Adaar.

“Cassandra, it’s fine, you can put your weapon down - come take a look at our intruder.”

Cassandra only lowered her sword by a half, still not entirely convinced she could let down her guard until she saw what had disturbed their peace: in the middle of Adaar’s glyph stood a fennec, with its beady black eyes wide open. Frozen to death.

Squinting, Cassandra tried to see beyond the animal, into the dark of the night, but there were no curious eyes gazing at them, or signs that would have alarmed her. They really just had been interrupted by an unfortunate critter. Cassandra put her sword to her side.

They looked at each other, and Adaar treated Cassandra to a wide grin, which looked rather ghastly in the glow of her staff. Cassandra could see why Adaar was amused; they were both barefoot, with water dripping down into their collars and creating wet spots in their clothes. They did look rather silly, and not at all combat-worthy.

“Perhaps we should dress ourselves properly if we don’t want all the scouts on their night shift to stare at us,” Adaar suggested. “If we hurry, we might make it back before one in the morning.”

Cassandra rubbed her eyes and yawned. The warm bath had made the aches in her body softer, but also meddled with her head, leaving her sleepier than she would like to admit.

They backtracked their way through the caves and dressed themselves properly this time. Cassandra dried her hair with one of the towels Adaar had been smart enough to bring and moved on to clean her face; the kohl stains underneath her eyes made her look not unlike Skyhold’s court jester. She put on her armor while Adaar blew out the candles. Adaar decided to leave them in the cave and buy Josephine new candles with her own gold.

“Don’t you think we had a nice little adventure together?” Adaar said, hoisting her rucksack onto her back once they stepped outside again.

“I’m sorry?” Cassandra stopped in her tracks, her heart dropping into her stomach. Heat rose to her face. Had she completely misunderstood Adaar’s intentions?

“Oh! I meant exploring the cave and walking in on our furry intruder friend, not what happened in between. I very much intended for that to be a more long-term thing.”

Tension eased from Cassandra’s neck.

“Come on, Cassandra,” Adaar said. “Again, I brought _thirty-six_ candles. If that doesn’t convince you I’m serious about you, what will?”

“I don’t know,” Cassandra said, and, with a small smile: “thirty-seven candles?”

“Urgh,” Adaar groaned, but there was a stark contrast between her frustrated noise and the way she pulled Cassandra towards her to kiss her temple. “My Lady Seeker is so demanding.” Adaar gripped her staff a little tighter. “I would invite you to bedroll once we return to camp, but there is a chance that we don’t sleep at all tonight, and looking at that yawn you just showed me, that might just be a terrible idea.”

She was so frank about this, so forthright. For the briefest of moments Cassandra wanted to be irresponsible. But, no, she immediately chastised herself and overcame the intrusive thought; it was ill-advised. Besides, she would prefer her first time with Adaar to be somewhere they couldn’t get caught by a third party.  Cassandra’s imagination ran wild with what could have happened if they hadn’t been interrupted tonight, and knew they wouldn’t have another opportunity until they journeyed all the way back to Skyhold.

She was in for a long wait.

“Let us leave,” Cassandra said, her cheeks heated for different reasons than her misunderstanding Adaar’s words.

“Yes, let’s,” Adaar said, walking over to the first red ribbon in the bush at the edge of the clearing to collect it. She turned around and coaxed Cassandra’s hand from her side, wrapping the ribbon around her wrist as a reminder of what had happened, and a promise of what was to come.


End file.
